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Tag: "teletruth"

As you observe (or hopefully, participate in), the debates around network neutrality or universal service fund reform, remember that many of the loudest voices in support of industry positions are likely to be astroturf front groups. Between extremely well-financed astroturf organizations and industry-captured regulatory agencies, creating good policy that benefits the public is hard work. It helps to study how industry has gamed the FCC in the past -- as documented by David Rosen and Bruce Kushnick in a recent Alternet article.

At the risk of being sarcastic, we can thank the FCC for working with the industry to make our phone bills to easy to read - an example is available here.

We're about to start a new year and thanks to the FCC, we'll see some expanded creativity from the private broadband carriers who want to raise the prices we pay. In fact, you might not be aware of the lengths to which they have already gone. Illustrated nicely by this graphic from the folks at New Networks. But now they have increased power to increase the prices they overcharge us in novel ways. I'm a sucker for Les Misérables, so when a friend reminded me of some of the lyrics, I couldn't help but post them up here as they seem appropriate. Some things never change. From Master of the House:

THENARDIER Enter M'sieur Lay down your load Unlace your boots And rest from the road (Taking his bag) This weighs a ton Travel's a curse But here we strive To lighten your purse Here the goose is cooked Here the fat is fried And nothing's overlooked Till I'm satisfied... Food beyond compare Food beyond belief Mix it in a mincer And pretend it's beef Kidney of a horse Liver of a cat Filling up the sausages With this and that ... Charge 'em for the lice Extra for the mice Two percent for looking in the mirror twice Here a little slice There a little cut Three percent for sleeping with the window shut When it comes to fixing prices There are a lot of tricks he knows How it all increases All those bits and pieces Jesus! It's amazing how it grows!

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In 1868, the railroad bypassed Forestville, Minn., and the town died. The decline came slowly, and over time my distant relatives, Thomas and Mary Meighen, saw the town dwindle and people move away. They were left in an empty town with their farm and a general store attached to their home. Farmworkers, paid in "chits" to spend in that store, kept it open until 1908, when business in it came to a screeching halt as Thomas abruptly closed up shop — the last business in Forestville — with all the merchandise inside...

What happens to your town if it's bypassed by high-speed broadband like Forestville was by the railroad in 1868?